(An LMS "Patriot" 4-6-0; 45500 Patriot herself, in fact.) We do do occasional steam trains here at SRM; it's an important element balancing the law, defence and foreign affairs elements that is our usual fare. So here in what turns out to be my 100th post since relaunching the blog back in July 2010, we're back to steam engines. And weirdly, this features a class of locomotive that I've never warmed to from a railway that I always thought was rather dull.
So what's this all about?
It's about the dedication of passionate enthusiasm in the face of any kind of rational assessment of that which is dourly sensible. All of the Patriot-class were scrapped in the early 1960s, and a small group based at the Llangollen Railway are building one from scratch with assorted odds and sods that did survive from the end of steam (a tender, some buffers etc). The new engine will be named "The Unknown Warrior" and will be the UK's national memorial engine, perpetuating the old railway tradition of having an engine which recognised the sacrifices of staff and passengers in wartime.
All jolly good. She should look like the painting below when she's finished - hopefully in early 2018 for the centenary of the WW I Armistice.
And things seem to be going pretty well. Well done to them!
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